3 WOMEN SUE EPSTEIN’S ESTATE, CITING RAPE
» Three women filed N E W YOR K lawsuits Tuesday accusing Jeffrey Epstein of raping them or subjecting them to other forced sex acts, including one case while he was serving a Florida jail sentence that allowed him out to work during the day.
The lawsuits in Manhattan federal court were filed on behalf of women who remained anonymous. They sought unspecified damages, citing continuing psychological and psychiatric trauma, mental anguish, humiliation and more.
The lawsuits say two women were 17 years old and the third woman was 20 when they said they were sexually assaulted by Epstein. All said they were also coerced into giving Epstein sexual massages for years.
L.A. Opera names lawyer to lead Placido Domingo investigation.
SAN F RANCI S C O
» Los Angeles Opera said Tuesday it will immediately open a “thorough and independent investigation” into allegations of sexual harassment against the opera star Placido Domingo, the company’s general director.
In a brief statement Tuesday, the opera company said it has hired Debra Wong Yang from the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to lead the investigation.
Yang is a former U.S. attorney and Los Angeles County Superior Court judge who is chair of her firm’s Crisis Management Practice Group, according to the firm’s website.
The investigation into Domingo’s behavior follows an Associated Press report detailing multiple accusations against the 78year-old opera star.
Pompeo: Anyone who “touches” Iran tanker risks sanctions.
ONS» U.S. Secretary UN I T ED NAT I of State Mike Pompeo says anyone who “touches,” supports or allows an Iranian tanker carrying crude oil to dock risks U.S. sanctions.
He told reporters Tuesday that if an Iranian supertanker that left Gibraltar on Sunday again heads to Syria, “we’ll take every action we can consistent with those sanctions to prevent that.”
The Iranian vessel was detained for a month for allegedly attempting to violate European Union sanctions on Syria. Gibraltar authorities rejected U.S. attempts to seize the tanker.
FBI: Truck driver threatened mass shooting at Memphis church.
A truck driver who threatened to “shoot up” a church in Memphis, Tenn., and said he was haunted by “spiritual snakes and spiders” that people put in his bed was arrested in Indiana, less than a week before the day of the planned attacks, authorities said in newly filed court records.
Thomas Matthew McVicker was arrested in Indianapolis on Friday, according to a criminal complaint unsealed this week. It’s the most recent case in a string of men being arrested around the country for threatening to carry out shootings.
McVicker, 38, made “credible threats to conduct a mass shooting and suicide” planned for this coming Thursday, an FBI special agent said in a sworn affidavit.
He was arrested by Indiana State Police and the FBI, said Chris Bavender, an FBI spokeswoman in Indianapolis.
Burkina Faso president says extremists kill 24 soldiers.
EGAL» An attack by D A K AR, S E N extremists in Burkina Faso’s northern province has killed at least 24 soldiers, one of the deadliest attacks on military in the West African nation’s history, the president said Tuesday.
More soldiers were wounded and five are missing from the attack near the border with Mali in Soum province, said President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
The military said an air and land operation has been launched “in reaction to the barbaric attack” to “neutralize” the assailants.
Violence by Islamic extremists has been increasing in Burkina Faso’s north and east. Attacks have already killed hundreds of people, and thousands have fled the violence in the country.